Ever read Xenophon? He's a Greek historian. I've been working my way through his "Anabasis", a story of how he helped lead 10,000 Greek mercenaries stranded in the middle of the Persian Empire to safety. Even though it almost 2,500 years old, the book reads like a novel. Someone seriously needs to do a film adaptation of it... You also get a really rich picture of what it meant to "be Greek". It's a great book for teaching a crash course in the mindset of the average Greek, as opposed to Plato and Aristotle. You also come away with the impression that Greeks are such barbarians compared to the Persians. Xenophon didn't see it that way, but a little reading between the lines makes it quite apparent. The Platypus recommends Xenophon. Obey your Platypus...
Thoughts after reading the "Iliad" to prepare a Greece unit for my students: -Hector is a jerk until he's dead. He even advocates the exposure of Achaean corpses and then has the cheek to turn around and ask Achilles to spare his. He rudely ignores Polydamas' prophecies and fights outside the gate to save his pride knowing full well what it will cost his family and city. After he's dead, he becomes a martyr for the cause. -Agamemnon has several moments of true leadership to balance out his pettiness. In this way, he's a haunting foil to Achilles: the two men are more alike than they want to acknowledge. -We see that Achilles is the better man at the funeral games of Patroclos. His lordliness, tact, and generosity there give us a window into Achilles before his fight with Agamemnon and the death of Patroclos consumed him. -Nestor is a boring, rambling, old man who's better days are far behind him, and yet every Achaean treats him with the upmo...
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